Terran Confederacy
Formed from the ashes of war, the Terran Confederacy is the sole governing body of humanity's domain among the stars. What was once the European Union grew throughout the 21st and 22nd centuries as the superpowers of old fell one by one to wars and insurgencies brought on by dwindling energy reserves and mass exoduses due to Earth's changing climate rendering large swathes of once-arable land barren and nigh-uninhabitable. During this time the EU rose to become the greatest power on Earth on the strength of its technology, foresight, environment of cooperation, and efforts at terraforming and colonizing the inner planets of the Sol system. By the time the last independent nations of Earth signed the Treaty of Unification in 2184, the EU - now known as the Union of Earth - was well underway to making the inner planets livable and had begun terraforming the moons of the gas giants beyond. Within a decade, the first permanent settlements had been built in Mars and Venus and were nearing completion on Europa and Ganymede, however it was the creation of the Nakada-Reade Spatial Aperture Projector (better known as the Jump Drive) in 2263 that allowed humanity to begin colonizing other solar systems and caused the reorganization of the Union of Earth into the Terran Confederacy in 2289. Though it was originally a true confederate government, in the intervening centuries what is still known as the Terran Confederacy has become in fact a federation bordering on empire. 21st Century History During the 21st century, the tensions that had defined the 19th and 20th centuries continued and increased at an alarming rate. Dwindling supplies of oil and natural gas and the increasing demand for them by those countries that continued to rely on them sparked constant conflicts in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. Asia The chaos of 2033 brought untold bloodshed to Asia, ignited by North Korea's surprise attack on its southern neighbour. With the South having lost American protection due to the latter's fragmentation, the North believed their time of conquest was at hand, however their attack was a terrible mistake. While they ran roughshod over the South's defences, Seoul called out for help on the international stage, and China was quick to answer. Within days, North Korea had been reduced to ash and rubble, the few survivors streaming to the South for aid, however the price for Chinese aid was high as the Koreans soon discovered when Chinese soldiers continued southward, occupying the entire country. The Chinese invasion of South Korea outraged the international community at large, leading Russia to involve itself in the conflict and begin a bitter and devastating war between the Asian superpowers. Aiming to keep itself out of the war, Japan became the first East Asian member of the European Union in 2034, taking with it those American soldiers who had remained on the islands during the disintegration of their homeland. The Russo-Chinese War lasted for four years and cost millions of lives as the border regions changed hands back and forth. There was no victor; in the end, both nations exchanged fire with tactical nuclear devices, leaving both in ruins. The remnants of both sides splintered into dozens of smaller nations, leaving the hotly-contested border a radioactive dead zone. Having witnessed the cost of nuclear war so close at hand, India and Pakistan settled into an uneasy truce. It could not have lasted long, but it did not have to as rising temperatures saw both nations' people begin migrating northward en masse for more hospitable regions; by the end of the century, most of the inland cities lay all but deserted, and many coastal settlements had been swallowed by rising sea levels. The Middle East Always a hotbed of violent conflict, the 21st century was no different for the Middle East. The first few decades saw numerous regional conflicts waged, with the terrorist organization ISIS growing in power throughout the region, but it was ISIS' takeover of the Syrian government in 2030 that lit the fuse on the world's powder keg. The following year, ISIS-controlled Syria declared war on neighbouring Israel and inadvertently sounded the death knell for both itself and, more significantly, the balance of power throughout the world as this act also catalysed the dissolution of the United States of America. The initial days of the Israel-Syria War were no different than those of numerous other wars the Jewish state had found itself embroiled in, however when it became clear that its longtime alliance with the United States would not see reinforcements coming, the conflict rapidly escalated out of all control. Jordan and Lebanon swiftly joined in the war backed by Saudi Arabian financiers. Early rumblings in Turkey indicated it would also join the attack, however a desire to maintain relations with the European Union and join with that organization led to a surprising if begrudged defence of Israel when the EU intervened on its behalf at the behest of member states Cyprus and Greece; largely on the basis of its choosing progressive Europe over its erstwhile allies in the Middle East, Turkey was finally admitted to the EU in 2036. The war was short but terribly bitter and while it ended in a stalemate of sorts with no territory changing hands, it nevertheless caused massive changes within the region. Lebanon and Jordan had both been all but annihilated in the vicious combat, while Syria was able to remove ISIS from power after much of its might had been spent on Israel and its leaders targeted by Israeli strikes, though the nation was nevertheless left in ruins. Israel itself had been devastated as well, however in the fires of external war in which the enemy made no distinction between Israeli and Palestinian those two groups were able to come to a fragile understanding and unite against the foreign foes. Saudi Arabia, though spared from open combat, had counted on a quick victory of overwhelming odds and was left all but bankrupt which, combined with the abandonment of fossil fuels in the 21st and 22nd centuries, led to its downfall; after the war with Israel, Saudi Arabia never again achieved prominence, only a steady decline into irrelevance before its final dissolution in 2112. Concurrent with the Israel-Syria War, Iraq and Iran had their own troubles which kept them from taking part. Having been embroiled in internal conflict since the American invasion in 2003, Iraq was crippled by the rising power of ISIS, finally collapsing into a nation only in name as rival factions and warlords carved out their own fiefdoms in 2032. Iran meanwhile faced a growing population who rejected the religious government and wished a return to the secular days of the mid-20th century. With the failure of ISIS in 2032, the spark of revolution was ignited, and for the next three years the reigning government struggled to subdue the rebellion, but all for naught; in 2035 the Ayatollah's regime was violently ended by a populace eager to avenge the wrongs inflicted on it. The Nights of Blood, as they came to be known, saw thousands of government employees, functionaries, and clerics - the latter having aligned themselves with the ousted religious regime in the early days of the revolution - executed in the streets and gathering places of the war torn capital, along with any who had spoken in support of the fallen regime. Europe Led by the European Union and having learned the cost of open warfare in the previous centuries, Europe escaped the worst of the conflicts that plagued the 21st century. Indeed this time of crisis for much of the rest of the world helped to cement the EU as the greatest power on Earth and paved the way for the formation of the Union of Earth in the next century. Nevertheless, it was a time of great tension in Europe as elsewhere, particularly during the Russo-Chinese War that saw longtime aggressor Russia shattered in 2037, leaving the EU as the clear leader in world power. Having assumed the mantle of world guidance, the European Union quickly found itself burdened by all that that entails. Where previous decades had seen a slow trickle of admittance for petitioning nations and even several removals of member states, after the fall of the previous century's superpowers the EU was inundated with requests for membership from hopeful states seeking to avoid the devastation occurring around the globe. First came Japan in 2034, followed by longtime petitioner Turkey in 2036 and newly-formed Cascadia in 2037; 2042 saw the return of previous member Britain, which brought with it the entire Commonwealth for its second admission albeit over the next thirty years, thus cementing English as a primary language in the Union despite Britain's previously rocky relationship. By the dawn of the 22nd century, over half the world had joined the Union; perhaps more importantly however, during the latter half of the 21st century it became increasingly clear that with the disintegration of the superpowers of old the United Nations had lost its ability to effectively perform the necessary role of international government. To fill that void, the European Union began to transform from an alliance of member states with relatively few laws into a true government presiding over its members and protecting their interests on the global stage. This government became the model by which the Union of Earth and thereby the Terran Confederacy would function to this day. North America In 2031, amidst the environment of hostility, the world experienced a sudden and dramatic shift in the balance of power. As was frequent at the time, Israel came under attack, this time by Syria; unlike in previous conflicts however, when the United States of America joined the fray, the polarization of the latter was so great that the increased internal tension could no longer be contained. The states of California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington were the first to secede from the greater nation, declaring themselves the Republic of Cascadia, and before the rest of the country could forcibly oppose the move, it was compounded by Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont following suit and forming the United States of New England. In retaliation, then-President Ross ordered the US military to destroy the capitals of the new nations; in their refusal to kill those who had been their own people mere months before, they solidified the end of American superpower status. Within the next several years, more states would follow the Cascadian example: Hawaii became an island nation unto itself almost by default given the secession of Cascadia; Alaska, Michigan, and Minnesota petitioned and were accepted to join Canada as new provinces, while Quebec seceded to form its own nation; Florida declared itself independent and turned its attention toward its Caribbean neighbours; and finally Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma,Tennessee, Texas, and the Virginias formed the Christian Republic of Zion.